RE: when to implement a CMS

Hi Sonia,

A tricky decision point you are at. I have suggestions, based my recent
experience in working as  CMS project manager on a very large CMS project
for one organization with large multiple web sites and intranets. 

Choosing if, when and what you need in a CMS is a delicate balance of a
number of decisions. Some key business benefits you can look for from a CMS
are: better capacity for content governance, easier and faster to publish
content (especially regularly changing), distributed publishing, content
reuse, version control, publishing in multiple formats and the list goes on.
I suggest going to one of the many wonderful sites on the web serving the
CMS industry, start with cmswatch.com 

In my experience, moving into "solution space" too quickly, where your
questions lay, is a primary stumbling block for successful IT projects
especially CMS's. My first suggestions are :
1. Go back to the objectives of your organisation and list those objectives
in relation to how the web site can serve them, that's current and expected
future.
2. Find out how the site users use the web site and what more they would
need
3. Get a concept of best practice content management practices - lots of
material around to help with this, but you may have experienced many of the
things you would like to have already by being at the "coalface" on the web
site.
4. Map those best practice content management practices to your business
requirements ( from points 1&2)
5. Prioritize your list

Now you can take the next step of considering CMS applications " solution
space", but you may be thinking, I have a certain budget and time line, so
how can this be addressed. Here some very simplistic additional suggestions
to help in positioning yourself before you start looking:

1. Low budget, low CMS skills, short time frame - forget the CMS, do the
best you can with the web site and build some small applications for
changing content areas
2.  Modest budget, low CMS skills, short time frame - go for (ASP)
application service provider CMS platforms, many around that have the most
common features and you can scale with them, reduce risk and upfront cost
3. Modest budget, reasonable design skills, medium time frame, low - medium
levels of CMS features required - consider Open source CMS, will involve
considerable time commitment and no cost upfront may convert into "lots of
time" cost if you don't have help.
4. Big budget, short time frame, high level of CMS features required - go
for higher specification ASP platforms
5. Big budget, longer time frame, high levels of complexity and integration
with other systems - go for higher budget platforms with specialised
customisation required.

When to implement? After you have done the groundwork suggested above.

Regards
Peter Kearney
DET web portal and CMS project manager
[email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: Sonia Carter [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Wednesday, 20 August 2003 9:50 AM
To: cms-list-/[email protected]
Subject: [cms-list] when to implement a CMS


Hi

 

I submitted this to the list yesterday but it didn't seem to
appear.apologies if you have already seen this message..

 

 

I have recently commenced a redesign project on a large site. The client
would ideally like much of the site online in a couple of months but I just
cannot forsee this being possible if I also have to research and implement a
CMS before going live. 

 

My question is what are the pros and cons of migrating content over to a CMS
before or during a site redesign or once the site is built?

 

I am currently doing a content audit of the old site and I foresee that lots
of content will need to be updated, rewritten and chucked out.

 

What are your opinions on the way to go?

 

Sonia
 <http://www.clubsnsw.com.au/> 

THE REGISTERED CLUBS ASSOCIATION OF N.S.W.
499 KENT STREET, SYDNEY NSW 2000.
PHONE: 61 2  9268 3000   FAX: 61 2  9261 2506
ClubsNSW online: www.clubsnsw.com.au <http://www.clubsnsw.com.au/> 

This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the
individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not
disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender
immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete
this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be
secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost,
destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender
therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the
contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If
verification is required please request a hard-copy version. 
 


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/related
  multipart/alternative
    text/plain (text body -- kept)
    text/html
  image/bmp
---
--
http://cms-list.org/
more signal, less noise.


This E-Mail is intended only for the addressee. Its use is limited to that
intended by the author at the time and it is not to be distributed without the
author's consent. Unless otherwise stated, the State of Queensland accepts no
liability for the contents of this E-Mail except where subsequently confirmed in
writing. The opinions expressed in this E-Mail are those of the author and do
not necessarily represent the views of the State of Queensland. This E-Mail is
confidential and may be subject to a claim of legal privilege.

If you have received this E-Mail in error, please notify the author and delete this message immediately.

--
http://cms-list.org/
more signal, less noise.